A year after spill, consumers catching on that Southwest Florida seafood is safe

NAPLES - For Capt. Rob Modys, the Gulf oil spill a year ago was worse than any hurricane in Florida.

Modys, the owner of SoulMate Charters in Naples, lost business for three months, though oil never got close to Southwest Florida. His phone barely rang from June to August, as oil continued to spew into the Gulf of Mexico before a gushing BP wellhead could be capped.

"Hurricane Charley put a real dent in things. But that was three or four weeks. Nothing like that oil spill," Modys said.

He was busy in April and May of last year because out-of-towners already had booked their fishing trips. After that, business tanked as tourism slowed over fears that Southwest Florida's beaches were tainted with oil. Modys had two or three bookings a month, instead of 15 to 20, for three months.

"It just killed our business quickly," he said. "The bad thing about it was we had no problems with oil here. That was what was upsetting us."

With the one-year anniversary of the massive BP oil spill, Modys and others in the fishing and seafood industries in Florida worry that negative publicity about the disaster could hurt business all over again.

"Obviously it's a big deal for the people in Louisiana, but not for us," Modys said. "It's really not."

Since the spill, Florida regulators have taken more than 200 samples and have found that the state's seafood is safe. Traces of possible oil contaminants have been so small that they're "less than 1/1,000th of the FDA's level of concern," said Amanda Bevis, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The samples collected have included finfish, shellfish, oysters and crabs. The state's testing will continue and will increase with a $20 million grant from BP. Going forward, 80 samples will be collected and tested monthly.

"We will be able to test for three years the long-term impact of the oil," Bevis said.

The testing also is looking at whether there are any residues in the seafood from the chemicals used to break up the oil spill.

Third of a series of reports about this week's first anniversary of the Gulf oil spill.

A survey done nine months after the spill showed that nearly half of Florida's consumers remained more concerned about the availability, price and safety of Gulf seafood because of the oil spill. More than 60 percent of the respondents said they were more cautious about buying it.

Last summer, the Department of Agriculture launched a "Gulf Safe" campaign to raise awareness that seafood from Florida is safe to eat.

The marketing seems to be paying off, said Glen Brooks, a grouper fisherman and president of the Gulf Fishermen's Association.

"Supplies are good, the demand is way up and prices are up," he said. "We are selling everything we are catching."

He's still concerned about the longer-term effects of the spill.

"We may lose a year class of fish, or a partial year class of fish," Brooks said.

There was spawning larvae in the water at the time of the spill. The effect on that larvae is still unknown. If larvae died, it will be five or more years before fishermen realize it because those fish won't be there to catch.

Many fishermen in Florida made claims for BP money for lost business last year, but have yet to get paid. The claims process isn't working as well as it should for Florida's fishermen and related businesses, said Bob Jones, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association in Tallahassee.

Still, he said, most fishermen have survived the disaster.

"It's pretty hard to put a fisherman out of business," Jones said. "We survived the net ban, when particular groups wanted to ban all nets. We are not going anywhere. ... We will probably be here after Armageddon."

After the spill, certain Gulf waters closed to fishing. It was harder for retailers and wholesalers to get seafood and when they did, they could hardly sell it.

"It's coming back," Jones said.

After the well was capped, business started to snap back for Joe McLaughlin, the owner of Swan River Seafood and Fish Market in Naples. He sells a lot of shrimp – and only shrimp from the Gulf.

"It has taken a while for people to come back to eating Gulf shrimp," he said. "It seems like a year later they are back and eating more of it than ever."

Though he lost business, he didn't make a claim with BP.

"We felt that by making a claim, it may take money from somebody in Louisiana that really needs the money," McLaughlin said.

Rich Cahoon, owner of Seafood Dynamics and Incredible Fresh Seafood in Naples, said the spill hurt his business. He ships seafood nationwide.

"It did affect business in terms of domestic shrimp supply," he said. "We buy a lot of product out of the Louisiana area and that has been an issue."

Despite the lost business from the oil spill, his business has continued to grow. So Cahoon didn't file a claim with BP.

His biggest fear is the lingering effect of the disaster.

"From what I have read, as a result of the (1989) Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska, they've only really started to see their way out of that in the last year or so," Cahoon said. "There is no doubt in my mind that it's going to be a lingering effect as that oil sludge moves around the bottom of the Gulf."

Customers at his retail store, Captain Jerry's Seafood in East Naples, still ask questions about the safety of Gulf seafood. Yet the demand for seafood is "better than it has ever been," Cahoon said.

Despite the oil spill, Brian Urso, vice president of Andy's Island Seafood in Matlacha, said his business didn't go down. He attributes that to his "very educated clientele," who understand seafood and know oil didn't come anywhere near Southwest Florida.

"I think it's all a matter of time before we either find out that the oil spill was damaging, or that the Gulf healed itself and that Mother Nature really is able to fix things like that," Urso said.

Dennis Henderson, owner of Trico Shrimp Co. and Gulf Shrimp Inc. in Fort Myers Beach, said more advertising needs to be done up North to promote Gulf seafood and reinforce that it's safe.

"I've still got people asking me, ‘Is it Safe?' Some people won't buy fish or shrimp that comes from the Gulf. There are still a few people who don't know so they are just not going to buy," he said.

To read more about local BP oil claims as of mid-April, click on documents below.

Jeff Haughland, owner-president of Island Crab Co. on Pine Island, said the media hype is what hurt local businesses the most. He said he hasn't had any problems getting Gulf seafood this season.

"The only problem now is that a lot of tourists have gone home," Haughland said. "The demand has gone."

Tourists still are in town, but season is winding down as Easter approaches.

On Tuesday, Modys was captaining his fishing boat, Kindred Soul. Aboard he had three out-of-towners. Oil wasn't on their minds.

"It wasn't a concern for us," said Joceyln O'Connor, 36, of Rochester Hills, Mich. "And the fishing has been good."

Once a year, she usually comes to Naples, along with her husband and her dad, to take a chartered fishing trip with Modys.

During this week's fishing trip, she caught a shark. Her group also caught grouper, snapper and trout.

"There's all kinds of stuff out here," she said, noting she had no worries about anything she caught.

Pat Kirk, a co-owner of Captain Kirk's Stone Crabs in Naples, said the spill didn't hurt her business at all. Her business is only local and most of her business comes from locals, not visitors.

"Everything is great," she said. "The fishing has been good. It has been a good season."